In the bitter end, the intriguing pitching duel between first-time starters Yohan Flande and Marco Gonzales faded into the background Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field.

Taking center stage in front of 34,635 fans was yet another Rockies' home defeat — their 12th in their last 16 games at 20th and Blake. The 9-6 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals was particularly hard to stomach.

The Rockies had a final chance in the ninth, putting two on with back-to-back walks by Charlie Blackmon and Drew Stubbs. But St. Louis closer Trevor Rosenthal, whipping 97-100 mph fastballs, struck out Troy Tulowitzki after an 11-pitch battle. Rosenthal then got Justin Morneau to fly out to center to notch his 23rd save.

"I was hoping to come through for the team and get (Rosenthal) in deeper water than he already was," Tulo said. "It was a battle. I knew it was an important out for them and I knew it was an important at-bat for our team. It hurts."

Colorado led 6-5 going into the eighth, but struggling reliever Adam Ottavino gave up a leadoff single to Allen Craig, then watched helplessly as pinch-hitter Daniel Descalso blooped a double at the feet of charging left fielder Corey Dickerson to score Craig. Descalso scored the go-ahead run when Matt Carpenter scooted a seeing-eye RBI single up the middle off Ottavino.

"I don't have any answers for today, I feel horrible," Ottavino said. "I honestly thought (Descalso's double) was a foul ball until the moment it hit the ground. It was a good pitch. I wasn't even worried when it was in the air. But it landed in a perfect spot in left field and it tied the game."

St. Louis added two unearned bonus runs in the ninth off reliever Nick Masset. Throwing errors by catcher Wilin Rosario and Masset fueled a Cardinals' inning that ended up requiring only sacrifice flies by Yadier Molina and Craig.

The Rockies, losers of eight of their last nine overall, finished their homestand 1-5 and now begin a seven-day roadtrip beginning Thursday in Milwaukee. Already eight games below .500 and trailing San Francisco by 11 games in the National League West, the trip East could put the beat-up Rockies in a hole they will never climb out of, even when they get some of their best players and pitchers back from the disabled list in the coming weeks.

"I continue to say it, but these guys have been fighting all along," Rockies manager Walt Weiss said. "It's been a tough stretch here, no question about it. But their resolve hasn't gone away at all. They expect to win and they fight to the end. It's just that nothing is coming easy right now."

Chances are, most Rockies fans had never heard of Flande. At least not until the lanky lefty from El Seibo, Dominican Republic, stepped on the mound Wednesday.

Chances are better that fans knew something about the lefty Gonzales, the Fort Collins native and former Rocky Mountain High School phenom.

Both pitchers made their major-league debuts on a perfect early-summer day. Both had their moments and their mishaps. Gonzales had a vocal gang in Section 136 cheering every move he made.

"I thought both kids did a really nice job," Weiss said. "I thought both young starters had a chance to win the game. Flande was outstanding, until he gave up three runs in the fifth. And I thought Gonzales was very good the first time through our lineup."

Flande (pronounced Flawn-DAY) became the fourth Colorado starting pitcher to make his big-league debut this season — a team record. The others are Eddie Butler, Christian Bergman and Tyler Matzek.

"I was really excited to pitch my first big-league game," the 28-year-old said. "I have been playing for a long time, so I treated this like a regular game in the minors. I was trying to have fun."

Flande — an emergency replacement for Bergman who's now on the 60-disabled list with a broken bone in his left hand — acquitted himself well. He departed with a 5-4 lead after allowing four runs on six hits over five innings. He walked only one and stuck out four, giving Weiss all he could reasonably ask for against a potent Cardinals offense.

Flande ran into trouble in the Cardinals' three-run fifth, the big hits a double by Matt Holliday followed by a two-run homer by Matt Adams.

For the first three innings, Gonzales baffled Rockies hitters, allowing just one walk and striking out three, including Tulowitzki, the National League batting leader. But Gonzales didn't fool anybody the second time through the order.

Stubbs led off the fourth with a loud, solo shot to left, his sixth homer of the season and second in the last two days. By the time the inning was over, the Rockies sent nine men to the plate and scored five runs. Dickerson belted a two-run double, continuing his torrid pace at the plate . Dickerson, hitting .356, finished the homestand going 13-for-25 with two home runs, two doubles and seven RBIs.

The final line in Gonzales' debut box score: five innings, five runs, seven hits, two walks and three strikeouts. He was relatively economical, throwing 82 pitches, 57 for strikes.

Blackmon gave the Rockies a nice cushion in the sixth. He looped a ball into shallow center where Peter Bourjos made a valiant dive, but Bourjos dropped the ball when he hit the turf. Blackmon slid into second with a hustle double as Josh Rutledge trotted home from third to put Colorado in front 6-4.

But in the seventh, the Cardinals cut the lead to 6-5 against Rockies reliever Rex Brothers. They combined a leadoff walk by Carpenter, a single by Holliday and a sacrifice fly by Jhonny Peralta to score Carpenter.